ShareTweetFlipEmailPin0 SharesMost people can’t afford the published private school tuition. But most people don’t pay the listed price for private school tuition either. And while private colleges cost more than public schools, they usually provide more financial assistance than public schools. Consider the following information from College Data on two institutions: Item Texas State University … Read more
Just because a student is paying for all of his own expenses doesn’t make him an independent student for financial aid purposes. The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) has very specific requirements to qualify as an independent student.
Students must answer “yes” to one or more of the following questions to be considered an independent student. (The dates change each year.)
Merit aid refers to college awarded financial aid that is not based on financial need. The most commonly recognized form of merit aid is the scholarship. Scholarships may be awarded for academic skills or achievements based on talents such as athletic, artistic, or leadership. Other types of merit aid include tuition waivers or institutional grants not based on financial need. Unlike most outside scholarships, merit aid is awarded for all four years of college.
Net price calculators (NPC) are a way for students and their families to estimate how much it would cost to attend a specific college. All colleges that accept federal funds are required to provide Net Price Calculators on their websites. The NPC is supposed to
provide estimated net price information to current and prospective students and their families based on a student’s individual circumstances. This calculator should allow students to calculate an estimated net price of attendance at an institution (defined as cost of attendance minus grant and scholarship aid) based on what similar students paid in a previous year.
There are very few situations when applying for financial aid could possibly hurt your chances for admissions. For your financial aid application to affect your admissions you would need to be applying to a school with all of the following criteria.
Self-help financial aid is aid that the student earns through work or is required to pay back. Student loans and work-study are both self-help aid. Many colleges build their financial aid award starting with self-help aid.
Problems can occur when the institution doesn’t meet the student’s full-financial need, often referred to as “gapping.”
Even if you think your parents make too much money to qualify for financial aid, you should still fill out the FAFSA. There are certain loans that don’t rely on income such as the unsubsidized Direct Loan and the PLUS loans for parents. And depending on the school, you may qualify for work-study jobs.
Some colleges will not provide scholarship money without the FAFSA and it can also make you eligible for some state aid.
It depends on which colleges you apply to. If you apply to colleges that use the FAFSA only for calculating financial aid, equity in your primary home is not considered. However, if you apply to schools that use the CSS/Financial Aid PROFILE, home equity is likely to be considered.
Since each school decides if they use home equity in their methodology and how much to consider, how much home equity will affect financial aid will vary by institution.
ShareTweetFlipEmailPin0 SharesStudents can enter up to 10 schools on the FAFSA if completed on the web. Any schools added after the tenth will replace a previous school. Students can choose which school to replace with the new school. Replacing a school means that the old school will not have access to any updates or corrections … Read more